Building the Foundation for IT Transformation

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

Henry David Thoreau

When I think about IT or Digital Transformation, I often think of this quote. To survive, your business must meet the needs of the digital economy; that is, it must keep up with the pace of the smartphone-toting, social-media posting empowered customer. And, your job is to provide the foundation for this. So let’s talk a little about what you need to do to start this transformation.

What is Transforming?

Before we can talk about starting to transform, we have to start with what you are transforming. IT transformation is the process of aligning IT services and business applications so they are in lock-step with the new normal of customer expectations – providing business intelligence, business agility, and the promise of customer-centricity. In many cases, this means more than just a technology shift; it means you also need to review your processes, application architectures, and even organization model – not only your platforms, to align them with the new normal of your business. From process to information to platform, transformation only works if it happens across all dimensions of your enterprise.

Transformational IT: The New Normal

In most businesses, IT is typically heavy on the technical side of the business, while LOB end-users are often the nontechnical experts of the business. However, in the businesses that are embracing transformational IT, the lines between the technical and nontechnical sides of the business become blurred. IT metrics become less focused on response time and problem resolution but more on customer success and revenue growth. This is the new normal — the role of IT shifting so it becomes the technology advisor for the entire organization, providing the tools and solutions required to meet the needs of the digital economy.

Where are the Skills?

Because digital businesses are customer focused, IT departments must provide the tools for responsive and agile behavior. These solutions must be open, providing the ability to engage with a broad ecosystem of partners, suppliers and customers. Additionally IT must also be able to take advantage of technologies such as AI, IoT and blockchain. They must provide new platforms that support delivery of modern, cloud native applications that can evolve rapidly to meet ever-changing demands, and at the same time, they must maintain their core legacy systems.

451 Research Group indicates that “cloud platforms and information security emerged as top areas of IT expertise gaps in 2017.” Couple that with “acute skills shortages in cloud native environments for container and microservices technologies” and it quickly becomes apparent that there is a lack of skills to make the transformation your business desperately needs you to make.

SUSE Global Services provides flexible consulting delivery solutions and premium support services options to maximize your value from your SUSE solution investments. From SUSE Start consulting engagements to Premium Support Services options, our team has the technical expertise to assist in transforming and supporting your infrastructure. We will help your organization plan and implement your new solutions, facilitating all aspects of your IT transformation.

Our services offerings provide direct access to technical and product experts with whom you can build a trusted relationship. As trusted advisors, our services team helps your organization plan and implement new solutions, facilitating all aspects of your IT transformation.

With SUSE as your trusted partner, you not only get the right software for your transformation, you have access to the right people to get you to your end game. Make SUSE Global Services a part of your total solution. After all, your business has built “castles in the air,” it’s your job to put foundations under them.